Devstral 2 vs Devstral Small 2 vs Nova 2 Lite
Devstral Small 2 comes out ahead, 67 to 62 and 42 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Mistral AIDevstral 2
42/100- ECI—
- Price$0.40 / $2.00
- Context262K
- Our pickMistral AI
Devstral Small 2
67/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.30
- Context262K
AmazonNova 2 Lite
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.33 / $2.75
- Context1M
Devstral Small 2 is our pick
Devstral Small 2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Nova 2 Lite (62) and Devstral 2 (42). It leads on price. Nova 2 Lite wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceDevstral Small 2Devstral Small 2 $0.15 · Devstral 2 $0.80 · Nova 2 Lite $0.935 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova 2 LiteNova 2 Lite 1,000,000 · Devstral 2 262,144 · Devstral Small 2 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsNova 2 LiteDevstral 2: Text · Devstral Small 2: Text, Images · Nova 2 Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingDevstral 2 and Devstral Small 2Publishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Devstral 2 | Devstral Small 2 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 54 | 89 | 51 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 50 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 42/100 | 67/100 | 62/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Devstral 2Mistral AI | Devstral Small 2Mistral AI | Nova 2 LiteAmazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.40 | $0.10 (best) | $0.33 |
| Output | $2.00 | $0.30 (best) | $2.75 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.083 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.80 | $0.15 (best) | $0.935 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Median of 1 providers | Official Amazon Bedrock API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yeslow · medium · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | OpenApache-2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | devstral-2512 | — | amazon.nova-2-lite-v1:0 |
| API providers | 14 (best) | 1 | 2 |
| Released | Dec 9, 2025 | Dec 9, 2025 | Dec 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Dec 2025 | Dec 2025 | Oct 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Devstral 2$8.00
- Devstral Small 2$1.60
- Nova 2 Lite$8.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Devstral 2, Devstral Small 2 or Nova 2 Lite?
Devstral Small 2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Nova 2 Lite (62) and Devstral 2 (42). It leads on price. Nova 2 Lite wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Devstral 2, Devstral Small 2 or Nova 2 Lite?
Devstral Small 2 is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Devstral 2 costs $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Nova 2 Lite costs $0.33 input / $2.75 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Devstral Small 2 versus $0.80 for Devstral 2 (5.3× as much) and $0.935 for Nova 2 Lite (6.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Devstral 2 has not been scored yet, Devstral Small 2 has not been scored yet and Nova 2 Lite has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Devstral 2, Devstral Small 2 and Nova 2 Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Devstral 2 and 262,144 for Devstral Small 2. Maximum output per response: Devstral 2 up to 262,144, Devstral Small 2 up to 262,144, Nova 2 Lite up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Devstral 2 accepts text; Devstral Small 2 accepts text and images; Nova 2 Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Nova 2 Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Devstral 2 and Devstral Small 2 publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Nova 2 Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Devstral 2 is the newest, released Dec 9, 2025. Devstral Small 2 came out Dec 9, 2025; Nova 2 Lite came out Dec 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Devstral 2 Dec 2025, Devstral Small 2 Dec 2025, Nova 2 Lite Oct 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
